This invention relates to a switch device including an operating member which has push operating portions, provided respectively at four portions of a peripheral portion thereof, and light-transmitting indicating portions provided respectively at these push operating portions.
One known conventional switch device for a vehicle such as an automobile includes an operating member having push operating portions, provided respectively at four portions of a peripheral portion thereof, and light-transmitting indicating portions provided respectively at these push operating portions. In this switch device, a light guide member is provided at a back side of the operating member, and this light guide member can be guided by a guide member in four directions corresponding respectively to pushing operations of the push operating portions.
Pushers are provided respectively at the back sides of the push operating portions of the operating member, and can be pushed by these push operating portions, respectively, and switching elements can be pressed and operated by these pushers, respectively.
A light source is provided beyond the light guide member, and in accordance with an operation of a light control switch (not shown), light emitted from this light source permeates the light guide member, and illuminates the light-transmitting indicating portions of the operating member.
In the above conventional construction, the light guide member is common to the four light-transmitting indicating portions of the operating member, and in this connection, this light guide member is disposed at the back side of the operating member, and more specifically at a central portion of the back side of the operating member. One reason for this is that each of the switching elements must be located at a position toward which the corresponding push operating portion is operated, so that an operating load produced upon pushing of each push operating portion of the operating member can be transmitted via the corresponding pusher to the corresponding switching element without any loss, and another reason is that the switching elements can not be located at other positions than such positions because of a limited space, and therefore the light guide member need to be provided so as not to interfere with them.
The light guide member thus functions to allow light, emitted from the light source, to pass therethrough so as to illuminate the light-transmitting indicating portions of the operating member as described above, and therefore it has been proposed to provide this light guide member integrally with the light-transmitting indicating portions of the operating member. In this case, generally, each light-transmitting indicating portion of the operating member is made of a translucent resin having milk white color or the like, while the body of the operating member is made of a light-blocking resin. Therefore, when the light guide member is provided integrally with the light-transmitting indicating portions, this light guide member is also made of such a translucent resin.
However, when the light guide member is made of such a translucent resin, light emitted from the light source does not reach the light-transmitting indicating portions of the operating member, and as a result the light-transmitting indicating portions will not be illuminated.
On the other hand, it has been proposed to form the light guide member from a transparent resin. In this case, light emitted from the light source can sufficiently reach each light-transmitting indicating portion of the operating member. In this case, however, each light-transmitting indicating portion of the operating member is also made of the transparent resin, and therefore each light-transmitting indicating portion is so excessively illuminated that its brightness becomes excessively high.
This invention has been made under the above circumstances, and an object of the invention is to provide a switch device in which a light guide member is provided so as not to interfere with pushers, pushed respectively by four push operating portions of an operating member, and switching elements, and besides light-transmitting indicating portions of the operating member can be illuminated properly.
The above object has been achieved by a switch device of the present invention characterized in that the device comprises an operating member including push operating portions, provided respectively at four portions of a peripheral portion thereof, and light-transmitting indicating portions provided respectively at the push operating portions; a light guide member which is made of a transparent material, and is connected to the operating member, and includes a main body portion, disposed at a back side of a central portion of the operating member, and extension portions which extend from the main body portion, and are disposed respectively at back sides of the light-transmitting indicating portions; a guide member for guiding the light guide member in four directions corresponding respectively to pushing operations of the push operating portions of the operating member; pushers which are provided respectively at back sides of the extension portions of the light guide portion, and can be pushed respectively by the pushing operations of the push operating portions; switching elements which can be pressed and operated by the pushers, respectively; and a light source provided beyond the main body portion of the light guide member; and light, emitted from the light source, passes sequentially through the main body portion of the light guide member and the extension portions to illuminate the light-transmitting indicating portions of the operating member.
In this construction, the light guide member is made of the transparent material capable of sufficiently transmitting light. And besides, this light guide member is separate from the light-transmitting indicating portions of the operating member, and therefore the light-transmitting indicating portions can be made of a translucent material regardless of the material of which the light guide member is made. Therefore, each of the light-transmitting indicating portions can be illuminated with the proper brightness.